Strongly Connected Component

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 Last Classs Topic

DFS
Topological Sort
Problems:
Detect cycle in an undirected graph
Detect cycle in a directed graph
How many paths are there from s to t in a
directed acyclic graph?

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 Connectivity
Connected Graph A B
In an undirected graph G(V, E) is
called connected, if G contains a path C
between every pair of vertices
Otherwise, they are called disconnected. D E
A directed graph is called connected if
every pair of distinct vertices in the F
graph is connected.
Connected Components Connected ?
A connected component is a maximal No
Yes
connected subgraph of G. Each vertex
belongs to exactly one connected
component, as does each edge.
 Connectivity (cont.)

Weakly Connected Graph

A directed graph is called weakly
connected if replacing all of its
directed edges with undirected edges
produces a connected (undirected) graph.
A B A B

C D E C D E

Weakly Connected ? F F
YES
 Connectivity (cont.)

Strongly Connected Graph

It is strongly connected or strong if it
contains a directed path from u to v for
every pair of vertices u, v. The strong
components are the maximal strongly
connected subgraphs Strongly Connected ?
Yes
A B A B

C D E C D E
Strongly Connected ?
No F F
 Connected Components

Strongly Connected Components (SCC)

The strongly connected components
(SCC) of a directed graph are its maximal
strongly connected subgraphs.
Here, we work with
Directed unweighted graph
 Strongly Connected Components

G is strongly connected if every pair (u, v) of

vertices in G is reachable from one another.
A strongly connected component (SCC) of G
is a maximal set of vertices C V such that
for all u, v C, both u v and v u exist.

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DFS - Strongly Connected
Components

A C E G

B D F H

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DFS - Strongly Connected
Components

A C E G

B D F H

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 Component Graph

GSCC = (VSCC, ESCC).

VSCC has one vertex for each SCC in G.
ESCC has an edge if theres an edge between
the corresponding SCCs in G.
GSCC for the example considered:

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 Strongly Connected Components

The transpose MT of an NxN matrix M is the matrix obtained

when the rows become columns and the column become rows:
a d a d GT
G

b c Edges b c
have reverse
direction!
a b c d M MT
a b c d
a 1 a
b 1 b 1
c c 1 1
d 1 1 d 1
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 Transpose of a Directed Graph

GT = transpose of directed G.
GT = (V, ET), ET = {(u, v) : (v, u) E}.
GT is G with all edges reversed.
Can create GT in (V + E) time if using
adjacency lists.
G and GT have the same SCCs. (u and v are
reachable from each other in G if and only if
reachable from each other in GT.)

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 Algorithm to determine SCCs
SCC(G)
1. call DFS(G) to compute finishing times f [u] for all u
2. compute GT
3. call DFS(GT), but in the main loop, consider vertices in order of
decreasing f [u] (as computed in first DFS)
4. output the vertices in each tree of the depth-first forest formed in second
DFS as a separate SCC

Time: (V + E).

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 Example
a b c d
DFS on the initial graph G
13/14 11/ 16 1/ 10 8/ 9
b e a c d g h f
16 15 14 10 9 7 6 4
12/15 3/ 4 2/ 7 5/ 6

e f g h

a b c d
DFS on GT:
start at b: visit a, e
start at c: visit d
start at g: visit f
start at h
e f g h

Strongly connected components: C1 = {a, b, e}, C2 = {c, d}, C3 = {f, g}, C4 = {h}
 Component Graph

a b c d
cd

abe

fg h
e f g h
The component graph GSCC = (VSCC, ESCC):
VSCC = {v1, v2, , vk}, where vi corresponds to each
strongly connected component Ci
There is an edge (vi, vj) ESCC if G contains a directed
edge (x, y) for some x Ci and y Cj
The component graph is a DAG
 Lemma 1

Let C and C be distinct SCCs in G

Let u, v C, and u, v C
Suppose there is a path u u in G
Then there cannot also be a path v v in G.
Proof C C
Suppose there is a path v v
u
There exists u u v u
There exists v v u v
u and v are reachable from each v
other, so they are not in separate
SCCs: contradiction!
 Notations

Extend notation for d (starting time) and f (finishing

time) to sets of vertices U V:
d(U) = minuU { d[u] } (earliest discovery time)
f(U) = maxuU { f[u] } (latest finishing time)
C1 C2
a b c d
d(C1) =11 d(C2) =1
13/14 11/ 16 1/ 10 8/ 9
f(C1) =16 f(C2) =10

12/15 3/ 4 2/ 7 5/ 6

e f g h
C3 C4
d(C3) =2 d(C4) =5
f(C3) =7 f(C4) =6
 Lemma 2

Let C and C be distinct SCCs in a directed graph G =

(V, E). If there is an edge (u, v) E, where u C
and v C then f(C) > f(C).
Consider C1 and C2, connected by edge (b, c)
C1 C2
a b c d
d(C1) =11 d(C2) =1
13/14 11/ 16 1/ 10 8/ 9
f(C1) =16 f(C2) =10

12/15 3/ 4 2/ 7 5/ 6

e f g h
C3 C4
d(C3) =2 d(C4) =5
f(C3) =7 f(C4) =6
 Corollary

Let C and C be distinct SCCs in a directed graph G =

(V, E). If there is an edge (u, v) ET, where u C
and v C then f(C) < f(C).
Consider C2 and C1, connected by edge (c, b)
C1 = C C2 = C Since (c, b) ET
a b c d
(b, c) E
From previous
lemma:
f(C1) > f(C2)
e f g h f(C) > f(C)
C3 C4
f(C) < f(C)
 Corollary

Each edge in GT that goes between different

components goes from a component with an earlier
finish time (in the DFS) to one with a later finish time

C1 = C C2 = C
a b c d

e f g h
C3 C4
 Why does SCC Work?
When we do the second DFS, on GT, we start with a component C such that
f(C) is maximum (b, in our case)
We start from b and visit all vertices in C1
From corollary: f(C) > f(C) in G for all C C there are no edges from
C to any other SCCs in GT
DFS will visit only vertices in C1
The depth-first tree rooted at b contains exactly the vertices of C1

C1 C2
a b c d

b e a c d g h f
16 15 14 10 9 7 6 4

C3 C4
e f g h
 Why does SCC Work? (cont.)
The next root chosen in the second DFS is in SCC C2 such that f(C) is
maximum over all SCCs other than C1
DFS visits all vertices in C2
the only edges out of C2 go to C1, which weve already visited
The only tree edges will be to vertices in C2
Each time we choose a new root it can reach only:
vertices in its own component
vertices in components already visited

C1 C2
a b c d

b e a c d g h f
16 15 14 10 9 7 6 4

C3 C4
e f g h